Updates and Newsletters: The main news stories from the major sources, selected, compiled, and occasionally commented on by Michael Novakhov ("Mike Nova") | Public RSS Feeds on the various topics of Global Security | Topics oriented news reviews

Trump: 'We could make a fast decision' on new FBI directorWashington PostMay 13, 2017 10:28 AM EDT - President Trump told reporters on May 13 that a "fast decision" could be made to name a new FBI director to replace James Comey. (The Washington Post). RELATED LINKS. POST POLITICS: Trump suggests there may be ...

File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work. It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work. It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

WASHINGTON (AP) — James Comey cut an unorthodox path as FBI director, time and again compelled by what he described as strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work.
It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him.
Comey's ouster Tuesday, while his FBI led an investigation into coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, raises the potential that a man long defined by his independent streak, willingness to buck protocol and even a flair for the dramatic could resurface to publicly rebut White House efforts to smear his reputation.
"He's not shy, and he's got a tremendous moral compass," said former FBI assistant director Jim Yacone. "Above all, he will want to see the truth come out."
Comey's reputation for independence predated his tenure as director, famously manifesting itself in a 2004 hospital room clash with fellow Bush administration officials over a domestic surveillance program. It was a moment in history that he recounted three years later to a captivated congressional audience.
At the FBI, where he occasionally got ahead of Obama administration messaging or sometimes split with it altogether, by injecting himself into weighty public policy discussions.
And Comey's reputation most obviously, and most damagingly, was borne out last summer with his unusual public announcement that the FBI was not recommending criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in an email server investigation.
The news conference was held without Justice Department approval, strayed from standard protocol and led to criticism of Comey's moral certitude and go-it-alone inclinations.
Democrats lambasted him for it, and for his equally unorthodox move to alert Congress just before Election Day that the FBI was revisiting a once-closed investigation.
His testimony to Congress this month that he would make the same decisions again was cited in a Justice Department memo that laid the groundwork for his firing, though Trump has since said he had already made up his mind to dismiss Comey.
"I think he showed us again and again, 'I'm independent, damn it, and that's what you want me to be,'" said Ron Hosko, another former FBI assistant director. "And I know some will interpret that as he got too big for the job — certainly with this president."
Only one other FBI director, William Sessions, has been fired, with President Bill Clinton citing his ethical breaches. Clinton spent the next eight years at odds with Sessions' successor, Louis Freeh, but never moved to fire him. FBI chiefs are appointed to 10-year terms on the theory that can remove them from political sway.
Coupled with Comey's independence in his nearly four years as director was an unusual openness about the FBI's work.
A Comey mantra when discussing reconciliation between police and minorities — "It's hard to hate up close" — also reflected his conviction that public skepticism of the bureau could be lessened by greater transparency and a better explanation of FBI actions. After learning that an FBI clerical error helped enable a gun purchase by the man later accused in the South Carolina church massacre, Comey called reporters to FBI headquarters to discuss the mistake.
He staked out public and sometimes unpopular positions on contentious social and policy issues while leading an agency historically focused solely on law enforcement.
During a tense dialogue with Silicon Valley over smartphone encryption and the balance between privacy and national security, Comey wrote opinion articles, delivered speeches and pressed his case for access to devices louder than anyone else in the Obama administration.
He floated the disputed idea that a violent crime spike might be linked to police officers peeling back from their duties out of fear of being caught on video. Even after the Obama White House and Justice Department leaders said there was no evidence to support the assertion, Comey repeated it as a possibility.
In a speech where he quoted the lyrics of the musical "Avenue Q," he declared that the U.S. was at a crossroads on matters of race and policing. He said minorities in poor neighborhoods often inherit a "legacy of crime and prison" while officers in those same neighborhoods may take "lazy mental shortcuts" in dealing with suspicious situations.
Comey's outspokenness sometimes rankled Obama administration officials. The president himself in a November interview implicitly criticized Comey's actions in the Clinton email case by asserting that when it comes to investigations, "we don't operate on innuendo" and "incomplete information."
Into the mix came Trump, an attention-grabbing leader who, in addition to professing frustration with "this Russia thing," apparently loathed sharing the spotlight with Comey. In explaining the firing, the president told NBC News he considered Comey a "showboat."
Comey declined an invitation to testify at a closed Senate committee hearing Tuesday and it's not clear when he'll speak publicly. But elements of his accounts are emerging.
Comey said that Trump requested that he pledge to the president his loyalty during a January dinner, according to a person close to the former director. Comey offered honesty instead. When Trump then asked for "honest loyalty," Comey told him he would have that, said the Comey associate, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The White House has disputed that characterization.
The firing has roiled the FBI, where Comey was generally well-regarded and praised for his leadership. Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy and the FBI's current acting director, told a Senate panel Thursday that Comey enjoyed "broad support."
Hosko said just before his 2014 retirement, he was called into the director's office, arguably the most buttoned up inner sanctum of the nation's premier law enforcement agency. He recalls the gregarious, 6-foot-8 director sitting in a "stuffed chair and literally slumped in the seat like a kid would, with his butt barely on the chair, his knees touching the coffee table and just in a very relaxed way."
"Tell me again," Comey asked him, "what you're going to do in your retirement."
While it's not yet known what Comey himself plans to do in his post-FBI life, he's unlikely to retire from public view.
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Follow Eric Tucker at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
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Associated Press Writer Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report.Associated Press

File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly he

Teams of technicians were working "round the clock" Saturday to restore hospital computer systems in Britain and check transport services in other nations after a global cyberattack that hit dozens of countries crippled the U.K.'s health system. In Russia, where a wide array of systems came under attack, officials said services had been restored or the virus contained.

May 13, 2017, 4:45 PM (IDT)A Jordanian citizen of 57 named Muhammed Abdullah Selim al Qasaji was identified as the terrorist who Saturday inflicted multiple stab wounds on an Israeli police officer on patrol near Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.. The injured policeman, aged 37, shot his assailant dead before paramedics arrived and drove him to hospital. Two bystanders were slightly hurt in the struggle to control him. Jerusalem police later shutttered down the shops in the vicinity and imposed restrictions on access to the al Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount.This was the fifth terrorist attack in Jerusalem in recent days.

Will it happen?

North Korea is willing to engage in talks with the U.S. under the right conditions, a senior North Korean diplomat revealed Saturday.
Well have dialogue if the conditions are there, Choe Son Hui, head of U.S. affairs for the North Korean foreign ministry, told South Koreas Yonhap News Agency in Beijing. Choe had just concluded Track 1.5 discussions with former U.S. officials in Norway and was in the process of returning to Pyongyang at the time of the interview.
Choe did not specify what conditions would be needed for a dialogue with the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump told Bloomberg News earlier in May he would be willing to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it, Trump said, adding that such a meeting could only occur under the right circumstances.
Most political people would never say that, Trump said, but Im telling you under the right circumstances I would meet with him. We have breaking news.
South Koreas new president has also indicated that he is open to talks with North Korea.
I will quickly move to solve the crisis in national security. I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean Peninsula if needed, I will fly immediately to Washington. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo, Moon said Wednesday, according to multiple reports. If the conditions shape up, I will go to Pyongyang.Read full article

Comey's firing is a gift to the FBINew York PostOn his watch, the FBI continued its politically correct, see-no-evil attitude toward radical Islam and thus failed to prevent the atrocity in San Bernardino; it also investigated the Orlando nightclub shooter for 10 months before closing its case ...and more »

Trumps decision to fire James Comey stunned Washington, upset the bureau, and gave fresh impetus to two investigations into Russias election meddling. It also raised the question: just how much more are Republicans willing to take?
Ill met by moonlight, a dozen reporters and cameramen peered into the darkness. Where was Sean Spicer? The press secretary had given a TV interview at 9pm then disappeared behind an awning, apparently conferring with colleagues. Journalists waited on the drive. The White House glowed behind them. This is so weird, one said. Its like hunting a dog and then killing it.
A couple of minutes later Spicer emerged on a path running along a fence and hedgerow. He was caught in a blinding light and asked the cameramen to turn it off. Relax, enjoy the night, have a glass of wine, he said jocularly. Spicer then spent 12 minutes trying to explain why Donald Trump had taken the most explosive decision of his young presidency: axing the director of the FBI.
Related: Trump threatens ex-FBI head Comey with possible 'tapes' of conversations
Related: 'You are terminated.' The three letters that ended James Comey's careerContinue reading...

5.12.17

File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work. It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

WASHINGTON (AP) — James Comey cut an unorthodox path as FBI director, time and again compelled by what he described as strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work.

It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him.

Comey's ouster Tuesday, while his FBI led an investigation into coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, raises the potential that a man long defined by his independent streak, willingness to buck protocol and even a flair for the dramatic could resurface to publicly rebut White House efforts to smear his reputation.

"He's not shy, and he's got a tremendous moral compass," said former FBI assistant director Jim Yacone. "Above all, he will want to see the truth come out."

Comey's reputation for independence predated his tenure as director, famously manifesting itself in a 2004 hospital room clash with fellow Bush administration officials over a domestic surveillance program. It was a moment in history that he recounted three years later to a captivated congressional audience.

At the FBI, where he occasionally got ahead of Obama administration messaging or sometimes split with it altogether, by injecting himself into weighty public policy discussions.

And Comey's reputation most obviously, and most damagingly, was borne out last summer with his unusual public announcement that the FBI was not recommending criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in an email server investigation.

The news conference was held without Justice Department approval, strayed from standard protocol and led to criticism of Comey's moral certitude and go-it-alone inclinations.

Democrats lambasted him for it, and for his equally unorthodox move to alert Congress just before Election Day that the FBI was revisiting a once-closed investigation.

His testimony to Congress this month that he would make the same decisions again was cited in a Justice Department memo that laid the groundwork for his firing, though Trump has since said he had already made up his mind to dismiss Comey.

"I think he showed us again and again, 'I'm independent, damn it, and that's what you want me to be,'" said Ron Hosko, another former FBI assistant director. "And I know some will interpret that as he got too big for the job — certainly with this president."

Only one other FBI director, William Sessions, has been fired, with President Bill Clinton citing his ethical breaches. Clinton spent the next eight years at odds with Sessions' successor, Louis Freeh, but never moved to fire him. FBI chiefs are appointed to 10-year terms on the theory that can remove them from political sway.

Coupled with Comey's independence in his nearly four years as director was an unusual openness about the FBI's work.

A Comey mantra when discussing reconciliation between police and minorities — "It's hard to hate up close" — also reflected his conviction that public skepticism of the bureau could be lessened by greater transparency and a better explanation of FBI actions. After learning that an FBI clerical error helped enable a gun purchase by the man later accused in the South Carolina church massacre, Comey called reporters to FBI headquarters to discuss the mistake.

He staked out public and sometimes unpopular positions on contentious social and policy issues while leading an agency historically focused solely on law enforcement.

During a tense dialogue with Silicon Valley over smartphone encryption and the balance between privacy and national security, Comey wrote opinion articles, delivered speeches and pressed his case for access to devices louder than anyone else in the Obama administration.

He floated the disputed idea that a violent crime spike might be linked to police officers peeling back from their duties out of fear of being caught on video. Even after the Obama White House and Justice Department leaders said there was no evidence to support the assertion, Comey repeated it as a possibility.

In a speech where he quoted the lyrics of the musical "Avenue Q," he declared that the U.S. was at a crossroads on matters of race and policing. He said minorities in poor neighborhoods often inherit a "legacy of crime and prison" while officers in those same neighborhoods may take "lazy mental shortcuts" in dealing with suspicious situations.

Comey's outspokenness sometimes rankled Obama administration officials. The president himself in a November interview implicitly criticized Comey's actions in the Clinton email case by asserting that when it comes to investigations, "we don't operate on innuendo" and "incomplete information."

Into the mix came Trump, an attention-grabbing leader who, in addition to professing frustration with "this Russia thing," apparently loathed sharing the spotlight with Comey. In explaining the firing, the president told NBC News he considered Comey a "showboat."

Comey declined an invitation to testify at a closed Senate committee hearing Tuesday and it's not clear when he'll speak publicly. But elements of his accounts are emerging.

Comey said that Trump requested that he pledge to the president his loyalty during a January dinner, according to a person close to the former director. Comey offered honesty instead. When Trump then asked for "honest loyalty," Comey told him he would have that, said the Comey associate, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The White House has disputed that characterization.

The firing has roiled the FBI, where Comey was generally well-regarded and praised for his leadership. Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy and the FBI's current acting director, told a Senate panel Thursday that Comey enjoyed "broad support."

Hosko said just before his 2014 retirement, he was called into the director's office, arguably the most buttoned up inner sanctum of the nation's premier law enforcement agency. He recalls the gregarious, 6-foot-8 director sitting in a "stuffed chair and literally slumped in the seat like a kid would, with his butt barely on the chair, his knees touching the coffee table and just in a very relaxed way."

File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly he

Teams of technicians were working "round the clock" Saturday to restore hospital computer systems in Britain and check transport services in other nations after a global cyberattack that hit dozens of countries crippled the U.K.'s health system. In Russia, where a wide array of systems came under attack, officials said services had been restored or the virus contained.

May 13, 2017, 4:45 PM (IDT)A Jordanian citizen of 57 named Muhammed Abdullah Selim al Qasaji was identified as the terrorist who Saturday inflicted multiple stab wounds on an Israeli police officer on patrol near Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem.. The injured policeman, aged 37, shot his assailant dead before paramedics arrived and drove him to hospital. Two bystanders were slightly hurt in the struggle to control him. Jerusalem police later shutttered down the shops in the vicinity and imposed restrictions on access to the al Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount.
This was the fifth terrorist attack in Jerusalem in recent days.

Will it happen?

North Korea is willing to engage in talks with the U.S. under the right conditions, a senior North Korean diplomat revealed Saturday.
Well have dialogue if the conditions are there, Choe Son Hui, head of U.S. affairs for the North Korean foreign ministry, told South Koreas Yonhap News Agency in Beijing. Choe had just concluded Track 1.5 discussions with former U.S. officials in Norway and was in the process of returning to Pyongyang at the time of the interview.
Choe did not specify what conditions would be needed for a dialogue with the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump told Bloomberg News earlier in May he would be willing to meet with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.
If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it, Trump said, adding that such a meeting could only occur under the right circumstances.
Most political people would never say that, Trump said, but Im telling you under the right circumstances I would meet with him. We have breaking news.
South Koreas new president has also indicated that he is open to talks with North Korea.
I will quickly move to solve the crisis in national security. I am willing to go anywhere for the peace of the Korean Peninsula if needed, I will fly immediately to Washington. I will go to Beijing and I will go to Tokyo, Moon said Wednesday, according to multiple reports. If the conditions shape up, I will go to Pyongyang.Read full article

Comey's firing is a gift to the FBINew York PostOn his watch, the FBI continued its politically correct, see-no-evil attitude toward radical Islam and thus failed to prevent the atrocity in San Bernardino; it also investigated the Orlando nightclub shooter for 10 months before closing its case...and more »

Trumps decision to fire James Comey stunned Washington, upset the bureau, and gave fresh impetus to two investigations into Russias election meddling. It also raised the question: just how much more are Republicans willing to take?
Ill met by moonlight, a dozen reporters and cameramen peered into the darkness. Where was Sean Spicer? The press secretary had given a TV interview at 9pm then disappeared behind an awning, apparently conferring with colleagues. Journalists waited on the drive. The White House glowed behind them. This is so weird, one said. Its like hunting a dog and then killing it.
A couple of minutes later Spicer emerged on a path running along a fence and hedgerow. He was caught in a blinding light and asked the cameramen to turn it off. Relax, enjoy the night, have a glass of wine, he said jocularly. Spicer then spent 12 minutes trying to explain why Donald Trump had taken the most explosive decision of his young presidency: axing the director of the FBI.
Related: Trump threatens ex-FBI head Comey with possible 'tapes' of conversations
Related: 'You are terminated.' The three letters that ended James Comey's careerContinue reading...

Syrian Kurdish-led forces were closing in Saturday on the de-facto capital of the Islamic State in Syria, seizing a cotton factory only a couple of miles north of the city and clashing with the militant group on a number of fronts, activists and Kurdish media reported.

Celebrating Mass in Saturday morning, 100 years after three shepherd children in Fátima reported seeing an apparition of the Virgin Mary there, Pope Francis canonized two of the visionaries as saints, saying Mary had given them a still-timely warning and message of hope.

Governments and executives scrambled to recover from a cyberattack that wreaked havoc on computer systems around the world, as the list of victims grew to include Germanys main rail operator and a swath of the Russian banking system.

President Trump's alluding Friday to having taped his conversations with former FBI Director James Comey has already propelled the purported talks to the top of WikiLeaks' wish list.
The anti-secrecy website on Friday said it's willing to pay $100,000 for the "tapes" referenced by the president this week in the ...

President Trump is weighing a major administration shake-up that would include firing White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, according to a New York Timesreport.

He also has become frustrated with Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, the former Republican National Committee chairman.

After a tumultuous week stemming from Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and a series of mixed explanations for its timing and reasoning, Trump "is considering a broad shakeup" of his team that would include dropping Spicer:

Mr. Trump is growing increasingly dissatisfied with the performance of his chief of staff, Reince Priebus; the communications director, Michael Dubke; and Mr. Spicer, a Priebus ally, according to a half-dozen West Wing officials who said the president was considering the most far-reaching shake-up of his already tumultuous term.

He has been especially critical of Mr. Spicer, they said, openly musing about replacing him and telling people in his circle that he kept his own press secretary out of the loop in dismissing Mr. Comey until the last possible moment because he feared that the communications staff would leak the news.

Mr. Spicers blustery style mimics Mr. Trumps, but people close to both men said he has not developed an especially close relationship with the president and has failed to use the self-protective tools that savvier Trump aides have adopted.

According to the report, Trump has put forth Fox News commentator Kimberly Guilfoyle as a possible replacement for Spicer.

Spicer, his deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders and even Vice President Mike Pence put forth the story this week that Trump acted on the recommendation of the Justice Department to dismiss Comey. However, Trump then told NBC News anchor Lester Holt that he was going fire Comey "regardless" of any recommendation.

Germany has begun the process of upgrading 103 out-of-service Leopard 2A4 and 2A6 tanks to the latest model, the Leopard 2A7V—an upgrade that will cost the state the equivalent of 760 million euros ($833 million). The big news is that by revamping and deploying these new vehicles, the Bundeswehr is expanding its tank fleet by over 40 percent, from 225 to 320 main battle tanks.

This increase in force size is going to take time: the revamped Leopards will enter service between 2019 and 2013. There are also provisions to convert thirty-two additional tanks into specialized engineering and bridge-laying support vehicles.

Before getting our elbows greasy diving into the technical details, we should consider the expansion’s obvious significance: the additional tanks are part of Germany’s gradual rearming of the Bundeswehr after years of downsizing and declining operational readiness, due to the end of the Cold War and trust in the U.S. military to shield it from future threats. The German public, mindful of the legacy of World War II, has shown little enthusiasm for getting involved in foreign wars or maintaining a large military.

However, defense policy changed in 2014, when Moscow demonstrated its willingness to use military force to advance its foreign policy objectives in eastern Europe by seizing Crimea from Ukraine in April 2014 with “little green men,” followed by the deployment of Russian tanks (crewed by active-duty Russian Army “volunteers”) in support of Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. German security concerns have recently been further aggravated by a new element of unpredictability in the U.S. commitment to NATO. While the Trump administration recently declared that NATO is “no longer obsolete” after entering a dispute with Moscow over Syrian chemical weapons, Berlin probably still feels it may need to play a larger role as a security provider in central Europe.

The Leopard 2 has for several decades stood among the top main battle tanks in the world, alongside the American M1 Abrams. Both vehicles share potent Rheinmetall 120-millimeter guns, boast advanced sights and fire-control systems permitting accurate fire on the move, and tip the scales at well over sixty tons in weight due to their heavy composite armor, which renders their frontal armor virtually immune to most Cold War–era antitank rockets and missiles. The Abrams and Leopard 2 are also relatively nimble for heavy main battle tanks, able to cruise over forty miles per hour.

Comparing the M1 and Leopard 2 leads to a sort of Coke-Pepsi rivalry—which is to say that they both do roughly the same thing, but there are enough little differences to inspire die-hard advocates for each. The Leopard 2’s diesel engine is often favorably compared to the loud, gas- turbine engines used in the M1, affording the German tank greater operational range. The M1A2 tanks used by the U.S. Army benefit from ultra-dense depleted-uranium armor and ammunition that enables superior defensive performance and higher penetrating power, respectively. However, Germany has political issues with using depleted uranium, so the later Leopard models compensate with highly sloped wedge-shaped turrets with spaced composite armor, as well as longer-barrel guns (fifty-five-calibers instead of forty-four) to generate greater kinetic energy for their tungsten armor-piercing shells, in order to (mostly) catch up to the punch of American DU rounds.

Nearly 3,500 Leopard 2s have been produced in numerous variants over the years, each version boasting improvements in armor protection and firepower since the first in the series entered service in 1979. Leopard 2s currently serve in the armies of eighteen countries, including Canada, Indonesia, Poland, Qatar, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.

Although the Abrams has seen a lot more combat over the decades, the Leopard 2 has been battle tested—though not against the Soviet tanks it was designed to duel with. In Afghanistan, Canadian and Danish Leopard 2s serving in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force survived hits from IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades, though a few were damaged and one Danish crew member was mortally wounded by a mine explosion. In return, the Leopard 2s were praised by coalition commanders for providing effective fire support for international forces battling the Taliban.

The Leopard 2 did not fare so well when Turkey deployed a battalion of them in December 2016 as part of its campaign to capture ISIS-held Al Bab near the Syrian border. Deadly antitank weapons have proliferated in the Syrian conflict, and much less well-armored Turkish M60 Patton tanks had suffered heavy losses to both ISIS and Kurdish rebels. In a series of attacks, ISIS destroyed or disabled as many as ten Leopard 2s using old Russian antitank missiles. Some of the Leopard 2s were even “captured” before being knocked out by coalition air strikes.

Governments and executives scrambled to recover from a cyberattack that wreaked havoc on computer systems around the world, as the list of victims grew to include Germany’s main rail operator and a swath of the Russian banking system.

Omar Mateen and 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting - The Dots, The Darkness, and The Mirrors, part 2

Quotes and Questions for Investigations

THE DARKNESS OF THE LOWLY TRUTHS

9/11 and Russia – connecting the dots - by Michael Novakhov

FBI on a couch: problems and solutions: FBI as a domestic intelligence service

The American KGB and the Comey's visions: can Hoover's COINTELPRO thugs be transformed into the modern counterintelligence officers? | M.N.: The American KGB wants to take over the US government. Oy, gevalt! Maybe, it is the time to order a ticket to Madagascar.. - Quotes and Comments

What is wrong with the FBI?

The Kiryas Joel affair: "Sexual abuse" or FBI abuse? | Michael Ameri's suicide as a protest against the FBI: What is wrong with the FBI: its strategy, tactics, techniques and methods if they lead to these unexpected and tragic results?

Kiryas Joel: "Sexual abuse" or FBI abuse?

Is there a general attempt to mislead and to manipulate the FBI using the issues of sexual abuse as a pretext, as a way to deal with the political and other opponents?

Investigate the "investigators"! Part 2: FBI as "a high church for the true mediocre"

Investigate the "investigators"! FBI as "a high church for the true mediocre"

"At bottom, I mean profoundly at bottom, the FBI has nothing to do with Communism, it has nothing to do with catching criminals, it has nothing to do with the Mafia, the syndicate, it has nothing to do with trust-busting, it has nothing to do with interstate commerce, it has nothing to do with anything but serving as a church for the mediocre. A high church for the true mediocre." Norman Mailer | "Investigate the "investigators"! I would think that no less than 50% of the problems this country is facing is due to the FBI's inadequacy. This is a very important issue and the time has come to address it." - by Michael Novakhov